October 8, 2012

BIG CITY BIG BOY ROOM

After I make a frame for a photo of the boys, I believe their "new" room is complete.  I loved their nursery, but was excited to make my 3-year old twin boys' room more mature.  I knew I wanted to use grays, but was not coming up with much.  Then I remembered a fabric with skyscrapers I bought for a project for my living room. I remembered it came in gray, white and black. I was inspired.  It was hard to paint over the pain-staking stripes that my husband painted for our first son, but I think we are all happy with the new room.  Now if Owen and Hudson would just stay in bed at night and go to sleep.

HERE'S A BEFORE AND AFTER OF THE LABOR OF LOVE


Some info from the above collage of pictures: I painted the skyline on the wall in layers. I spent so much time trying to find a decal or make one, but one day I just went in with some blue painter's tape and started taping the outline of buildings. It ended up being much easier than I expected.

The little porcelain tealights I found online at Queen B in Australia. A bit pricier than I would normally spend on a child's room, but they're just adorable and perfect for the room. My plan is to have these be night lights in their room (with battery votives). One of the buildings is even called The Fullerton (the town where we live).

 


I found the lightswitch cover on Etsy (http://www.etsy.com/shop/MapMotifs). The woman made it special for us. She had one like this posted on Etsy, but had sold it.  She was quite sure she had one more vintage maps of Minneapolis and she was so wonderful to search for a couple of months until she found it. I LOVE it! And I was so grateful. I actually think of her act of kindness every time I use the switch.

The Empire State Building is like a Lego set but called Best-Lock (found at Amazon.com). It came with stickers to put on the windows, but I like the clean look of the gray. I also want to get the Lego Architectural pieces for them, but when they are a bit older.
 












The two teddy bears may be the most special items in the boys room, and I was double-excited that they match the room.  My mom and grandma made these little bears for all of my grandma's great-grandkids from suits that were my grandpa's.  My son Hudson's middle name is Ray, which was my grandpa's name.   


I made the nightlight with the Brooklyn Bridge on it, but we don't use it because Hudson is scared of it (he's scared of a lot of things).  I think he thinks it's some sort of mask or something. Hmmmm.

The stool looks as if it was made for this room.  It's a Kikkerland EZ Fold Short Step Stool. They come in a lot of fun colors and collapse flat. They only cost around $12 and can be found at Amazon, Kohl's and Bed, Bath & Beyond. Love them.


The chair was mine as a child.  I painted over it twice now. Once for the striped nursery and now this.  Here's the before (wish I had a before-before photo):

The paintings of the maps were inspired by some prints I saw on Etsy.  The maps are of NYC, Los Angeles and Minneapolis (three places I've lived).  These are far from perfect, but I like how they turned out. Crazy side note is that my sister's sister-in-law who also moved to L.A. from MN bought the maps from Etsy and has them in her house. I was shocked at how small world that was, but also felt great because she has the best design style of anyone I know.


I found the bathroom rug and towels at Target and did a little dance when I saw how perfect they were for the room. I also got the soap dispenser, tissue box and toothbrush holder and all the black bins from Target. Love me my Tar-jay.


The lyric painting was made by my friend Laura Hagen.  The second I saw her first piece of work like this, I knew I had to buy one...and have since bought two. I am obsessed with her work.  I have the white one in our living room.  You can see some of her work here http://pinterest.com/mamasemamasa/canvas-happy/.

 













Found the fabric shower curtain at Sears. There were quite a few NYC shower curtains, but I love the look of this one best and it has my favorite building (Flatiron Building) on it.  The fabric is great quality and very thick. Here's a before picture of the bathroom (done before we had 3 little boys).

 


















Now I need to start working on bedding for full size beds, since they are not going to fit in the toddler beds for much longer.



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